Reference: default posture

Status: stable. Sourced directly from contracts/gestalt-cloud-membrane.v0.json default_posture block.

The contract publishes a per-condition default posture that informs the membrane’s behavior across all operations. This page is the canonical reference.

The map

{
  "missing_standing": "refuse",
  "missing_authority_package": "pend",
  "stale_authority_package": "refuse",
  "low_confidence_extraction": "pend",
  "cross_tenant_access": "refuse",
  "projection_promotion_without_evidence": "refuse"
}

What each entry means

`missing_standing` → `refuse`

If the actor does not have standing for the cited subject and act, the membrane refuses with standing_missing. It does not silently downgrade to a pending action.

This is the strongest default. Standing is the load-bearing question of admission, and Gestalt prefers a clear refusal to a soft pend.

`missing_authority_package` → `pend`

If a capability cited in an intent depends on an authority package that is not active, the membrane pends the call rather than refusing. The pending action carries a hint about which package needs to be imported / activated.

This default exists because package activation is operational, not substantive: the cited capability may be perfectly fine; the tenant just needs to enable the package.

`stale_authority_package` → `refuse`

If the authority package is past its freshness window, the membrane refuses with authority_package_stale. It does not pend.

A stale package is not an operational gap; it is a signal that the governance has changed and the tenant must explicitly re-anchor.

`low_confidence_extraction` → `pend`

If a connector’s evidence extraction has low confidence (for example, OCR over a noisy invoice scan), the membrane pends the follow-on intent. The pending action requests review.

This default protects against silently admitting low-confidence machine-extracted facts as governed truth.

`cross_tenant_access` → `refuse`

Any call that attempts cross-tenant access is refused with cross_tenant_access. There is no escalation path and no soft pend.

This is constitutional: the forbidden surface explicitly includes cross_tenant_graph_traversal. No flag, no role, no signing posture changes this.

`projection_promotion_without_evidence` → `refuse`

A reality.promote call that does not cite the required projection promotion approval evidence is refused with reality_promotion_authority_missing.

Projection promotion is fresh Gravity admission, not a copy. If you do not have the evidence, you do not get the promotion.

How postures translate to outcomes

Posture	Outcome	Body shape
`refuse`	`refused`	structured refusal with `failed_gate` and `refusal_reason`
`pend`	`pending`	structured `pending_action` with required signals

Why these defaults

The defaults reflect a single design principle:

Refuse when authority is wrong. Pend when authority is incomplete.

A missing authority package is incomplete; a stale one is wrong. A low-confidence extraction is incomplete; a cross-tenant access is wrong. Missing standing is wrong; missing presence (in many flows) is incomplete.

This principle keeps refusals legible: a refusal is always a governance signal, never an operational hiccup.

Per-operation overrides

Some operations override the default posture. Notable examples:

effect.intent for sensitive effects refuses (not pends) when no human presence receipt is cited (effect_human_presence_required).
economy.periodClose refuses (not pends) when any closure surface in the period is open (economic_closure_surface_open).
humanAuth.faceMatchFallback refuses (not pends) when no consent is supplied (human_auth_face_match_consent_missing).

Each operation’s per-operation refusal codes are listed in the relevant API page.

What the posture map is not

Not configurable per tenant. The defaults are part of the contract.
Not loggable preferences. They are governance behaviors, not observability hints.
Not relaxable in production. Production tightens posture, not loosens it.

Reference: default posture

The map

What each entry means

missing_standing → refuse

missing_authority_package → pend

stale_authority_package → refuse

low_confidence_extraction → pend

cross_tenant_access → refuse

projection_promotion_without_evidence → refuse